February 12, 2011

Did Facebook Bring Down Egyptian Government?

As we watch, transfixed by the sights and sounds of jubilation in the streets of Egypt, the question on many people's minds is: How did this happen? But a far better way to ask that question is: Who organized this, and how?

Movements for social change don't just "happen." Too often, the media reports on them the way we talk about the weather or chemistry: Protest is said to "flare up," "gather steam" and "boil." Other times movements are said to take a country "by storm" or "peter out."